Method and system for remote delivery of retail banking services

A method of distributing financial services remotely, comprising the following steps:

• providing a plurality of remote home banking terminals to a corresponding plurality of users;
• receiving bill paying requests including user-supplied ATM network compatible personal identification information from said plurality of terminals over dial-up telephone lines;
• and
• processing said bill paying requests substantially in real-time at a central computer operatively coupled to said telephone lines, said processing step including the following steps:
• generating POS or other ATM interchange-compatible debit messages including said ATM network compatible personal identification information responsive to information transmitted by users from said remote home banking terminals to said central computer over said telephone lines;
• transmitting said debit messages over an ATM network substantially in real-time response to said user bill paying requests;
• debiting said users' bank accounts substantially in real-time in response to said debit message;
• and
• paying entities selected by said users via said remote home banking terminals with funds obtained by debiting the users' bank accounts.

A method of paying bills comprising the following steps:

• activating a microprocessor-based home banking terminal coupled to a standard dial-up telephone line;
• causing and controlling said home banking terminal to establish communications with a central computer over said telephone line;
• inputting a PIN user identification number;
• manipulating said terminal to select a payee;
• manipulating said terminal to select an amount to pay said payee;
• encrypting said PIN user identification number at said home banking terminal to provide an ATM network compatible encrypted PIN user identification number;
• transmitting data representing said ATM network compatible encrypted PIN user identification number and said amount from said home banking terminal to said central computer;
• generating, substantially in real-time at said central computer in response to said transmitted data, an ATM network transaction debit message encoding at least said ATM network compatible encrypted PIN and said amount;
• transmitting said ATM network transaction debit message from said central computer to said user's bank substantially in real-time over an ATM network;
• validating and processing said ATM network transaction debit message at said user's bank substantially in real-time;
• controlling, with said central computer, a means for paying said selected payee said selected amount;
• and
• transferring funds in the amount specified by said ATM network transaction debit message from said user's bank to the operator associated with said central computer.

A method of providing home banking services comprising the following steps:

• providing home banking terminals to users;
• communicating with said home banking terminals on demand using a central computer;
• receiving financial service requests from said home banking terminals, said receiving step including receiving at least an ATM network compatible encrypted user PIN, an amount, and a payee selection;
• processing said received financial service requests with said central computer, including the steps of:
• generating and communicating messages from said central computer to users' banks over an ATM network resulting in debiting of user's bank accounts electronically substantially in real-time response to receipt of user bill paying requests, including the step of generating a digital ATM network transaction message containing at least said ATM network compatible encrypted user PIN and said amount and applying said message to said ATM network;
• disbursing payments electronically with said central computer to payees selected by said users;
• obtaining advertising text from advertisers and storing said advertising text on said central computer;
• transmitting said advertising text from said central computer to said home banking terminals;
• and
• generating, at said users' banks, unified statements including at least some of the information contained within said ATM network transaction message.

A method of distributing advertising remotely comprising the following steps:

• providing home banking terminals to users;
• communicating with said home banking terminals on demand using a central computer;
• receiving financial service requests included encrypted PIN information with said central computer from said home banking terminals;
• processing said received financial service requests with said central computer substantially in real-time including generating an ATM debit request substantially in real-time response to receipt of said financial service requests;
• storing indicia of said processed financial service requests in a database;
• obtaining advertising text from an advertiser and storing said advertising text on said central computer;
• processing said database to target specific users who may be interested in said advertising text;
• transmitting said advertising text from said central computer to said home banking terminals operated by said specific users;
• prompting said user to select whether they want further information with respect to said transmitted advertising text, comprising the step of transmitting prompt text including prompts to said home banking terminals;
• receiving and testing user responses to said prompts;
• and if said user responds to said prompts in the affirmative, contacting said advertiser and providing said advertiser with the identity of said user.

A method of paying bills comprising the following steps:

• activating a microprocessor-based home banking terminal coupled to a standard dial-up telephone line;
• causing and controlling said home banking terminal to establish communications with a central computer over said telephone line;
• inputting a PIN user identification number;
• manipulating said terminal to select a payee;
• manipulating said terminal to select an amount to pay said payee;
• encrypting said PIN within said home banking terminal to provide an ATM network compatible encrypted PIN;
• transmitting data representing said ATM network compatible encrypted PIN user identification number, said selected payee, and said amount from said home banking terminal to said central computer;
• storing a plurality of recurring payment dates;
• parsing said stored payment dates and determining which of said stored payment dates, if any, correspond to the current date;
• if a stored payment data corresponds to the current date, generating, substantially in real-time at said central computer in response to said stored data, an ATM debit message specifying at least said ATM network compatible encrypted PIN, said bank account selection, and said amount;
• and
• transmitting said ATM debit message from said central computer to said user's bank substantially in real-time over a standard ATM network to effect a real-time debit of said user's bank account.

A method for delivering at least one electronic service to multiple users at least in part via a telecommunications network and home terminals, said method including the following steps:

• (a) obtaining information from at least one information provider;
• (b) receiving, from a home terminal over said telecommunications network, an electronic service request and ATM network compatible personal identification information associated with a user;
• (c) generating an ATM debit request message encoding said received ATM network compatible personal identification information;
• (d) applying said ATM debit request message including said ATM network compatible personal identification information to an ATM network to effect a real-time debiting of funds from an account associated with said user substantially in real-time response to receipt of said electronic service request from said user;
• (e) delivering, to said home terminal over said telecommunications network in response to said electronic service request, at least a portion of said information provided by said information provider;
• (f) repeating said steps (b)-(e) for multiple users;
• and
• (g) using at least a portion of funds debited in response to performance of said applying step (d) to compensate said information provider at least in part for said delivered information.